The present invention relates to a saber saw or a reciprocating saw for cutting a workpiece such as woods, steel rods, and pipes etc. for building, remodeling and pulling down houses, equipment and buildings, and more particularly, to a shoe mechanism of the saber saw including a shoe to be pressed against the workpiece by an operator.
Conventionally in a saber saw shown in FIG. 1, a linear saw blade 5 is connected to a reciprocating shaft or a plunger (not shown) driven by an electric motor (not shown), so that the saw blade 5 is reciprocally moved for cutting a workpiece 10. During cutting operation using the saber saw, reaction force is exerted in the reciprocating direction of the saw blade 5. In order to withstand the reaction force, a shoe 3 is pushed onto a workpiece 10 as shown in FIG. 1 during cutting operation to hold the entire device at a given position or posture. The shoe 3 is provided to a front end of a shoe support member or a post 2 attached to a main body 1 of the saber saw. The shoe 3 extends in a direction approximately perpendicular to the reciprocating direction. Further, the shoe 3 is pivotally movably supported to the post 2 by a pivot shaft 6 for facilitating a stable posture of the main body 1 relative to a workpiece 10. The shoe 3 is formed with a vertical slot through which the saw blade 5 extends.
By pushing the shoe 3 onto the workpiece 10, the positional relationship between the workpiece 10 and the saw blade 5 can be maintained constantly, and the reactive force generated in the reciprocating direction of the saw blade 5 can be received on the shoe 3 in order to enhance workability. Such arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,007,172, 5,421,091 and 5,724,741.
However, in such conventional arrangement, the shoe 3 impacts or bumps on the workpiece 10 each time the saw blade 5 reciprocates to generate vibration and noise, which lower workability and increase operator's sense of fatigue.
Further, since the shoe 3 is pivotally supported to the post 2, there may be a posture of the shoe 3 as shown in FIG. 2, where a portion of the shoe 3 lower than the pivot shaft 6 is in abutment with the workpiece 10. In this case, a remaining portion of the shoe 3 higher than the pivot shaft 6 is inclined over the workpiece 10. Thus, it would be difficult to observe the actual cutting position of the saw blade 5, since the upper portion of the shoe 3 becomes an obstacle against the operator's view line. Incidentally, FIG. 3 shows other angular posture of the shoe 3 in which a portion of the shoe 3 higher than the pivot shaft 6 is in abutment with the workpiece 10. In the latter case, the actual cutting position is visible without any obstruction by the shoe 3.